Wednesday, 28 November 2012

I have succumbed yet again to another piece of social media - how do people keep up with it all?!! The selling point of Instagram to me was actually the photo filters,
they make boring photo subjects look so much more exciting!! Here was my
first and most current photo, a cupcake I received at work from a
freelancer I was working with. It was absolutely delicious!...and if I
can find the business card that came with it, I can let you know who
made it!

Monday, 26 November 2012

I love listening to some of the random radio stations on iTunes, and came across Chromeo. I'd never heard of them before but I loved the song that was playing - 'When the night falls'...which has the funniest video too!

I then listened to some of their other songs on YouTube and loved pretty much all of them!! I can't believe I hadn't come across them much earlier on as they've been around for quite a while now!

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

I've had my dot-com site for a while now and after going on it a few weeks ago,I noticed how ugly it actually looked! It looked so old fashioned and I felt it was time for a revamp! I was originally using Weebly as a starting point for my website but felt very limited with the tools I had in making my site the best I could... and also, there were a few times when I needed to go on, but the server had been down due to upgrades etc ...and as Weebly is American, the times were never convenient for me, naturally.

I then came across a UK-based site called Moonfruit. The site looked really fun, more in-line with my taste, and I liked that it was in my time zone. After browsing some of the websites made via Moonfruit and feeling pretty impressed with it all, I decided to give it a try...and here it is!

At first, it was so strange!! I felt like I was in Photoshop as I was able to position anything I wanted, anywhere! I wasn't able to do this with Weebly (at the time). It's totally flexible and I can't remember anything I wasn't able to do. There are a few things that I am currently stuck on but I think it's a case of just figuring it out myself, but overall I found it much more user-friendly. I also have my own little direct shop! I think you would agree that the new site looks much better?!

Friday, 16 November 2012

I have recently come to realise that I have too many shoes...too many that I don't wear! I am in the midst of clearing them out and will be selling them via my ASOS Marketplace store at some point. Anyway, it hasn't stopped me buying more (the money I make from selling my old ones will hopefully fund my newer ones!)...and when I spotted the Vivienne Westwood Anglomania for Melissa shoes on Sale on ASOS.COM, I had to get them! I have wanted the Skyscraper III and Lady Dragon VII Globe shoes for over a year now but the price never justified my use for them. I actually bought them both to try on and keep the one I liked the most, but I loved them both! I have already worn the Lady Dragon ones and they are pretty comfortable - probably more comfortable for people who wear heals more often, but I coped fine in them. They are really light because of the use of rubber and smell like bubblegum! I have now also just spotted some new ones on the site - Lady Dragon IX! So cute!!

Monday, 12 November 2012

He suggested I start with Dragon Age because 'it will take me forever to
complete' ...and so I have! He knew and I knew, that it would also take
forever for me to 'design' my character, but I had so much fun doing
it! The options are the most detailed ones I have ever come across so far... I could change the width and depth of her cheekbones, the size of her nose, the spacing of her eyes, the fullness of her lips, her hair style, her eyebrow colour, her lip colour, the size and placement of her ears....there was so much!!!

As I've had very long hair for a very long time, and with a secret desire to shave it all off...I decided to project this onto my character, especially as I also didn't like any of the hairstyle options. In contrast, I have given her dark, Gothic make up. I think she looks pretty good!! The only other thing though is that I wish you could change the body as much as you could with the face and jewellery would have been great too, such as piercings...I think I would have made her look like Hellraiser if this was the case. Nevertheless, the customising options are vast and I am just being picky now!

When it comes to picking a character class, I will always go for the one with magic, preferably dark magic such as a Necromancer type class but overall, just anything with magic! I have often found myself becoming bored if I am playing a warrior class and furiously hitting things with a sword or an axe. As a mage, I can cast shields, heal myself and other people, attack with different elements, poison the enemy, drain their energy...there is just so much to do!!!! So here I am, a bald, female mage. I haven't gotten very far into the game yet, I am still doing small quests within the starting place, but it's very in depth and you do need patience and time to really be able to get into the game. Hopefully I will have much more exciting looking screenshots to show the next time I blog about it!!

Friday, 9 November 2012

I absolutely love a good English Breakfast tea with 1.5 teaspoons of sugar and milk, but since I started Muay Thai, and being told/reading somewhere that it doesn't matter how much you exercise, if you're not eating properly, then nothing is going to change!...so, I decided to become a bit more aware of what I was putting into my body. However, I don't believe in depriving yourself of things you enjoy so I haven't exactly stopped eating things I know are unhealthy, but instead I have added healthy things to my diet instead. I started with introducing my taste buds to Green Tea! I know, not the biggest step (especially for someone who dislikes salad), but I drink a lot of tea so thought it would be better to balance my tea drinking with another, healthier type of tea. I first came across the Teapigs brand when I ordered some Green Tea inSuda (I think), only because it helps me digest faster, therefore I have enough space left to get onto dessert ha! It was really nice and the Teapigs label was conveniently still hanging off the teabag so I made a mental note to remember to see what else they had.

A few days later, I ordered a pack of Mao Feng Green Tea from Amazon and thoroughly enjoyed it, and found I was having it much more often than my normal tea. I don't know why I didn't do it in the first place but decided to go onto the main Teapigs site to browse their products. It's a lovely little site with other things besides tea to buy. I got a box of Jasmine Pearls which is delicious and I was so happy to see that they also offered a mix 'n' match option across all (21) their flavours for a great price (for 12)! My boyfriend also likes green tea so I purchased a little gift set for him (and me!) to try as a top-up Christmas present! I can't wait to try the Chocolate Flake flavour!!

I also came across Matcha Green Tea which is basically the super-duper version of green tea...apparently one cup is equivalent to 15 cups of normal green tea! I haven't tried it yet so will review it as soon as I do....

Lastly, from a design point of view, I absolutely love the Teapigs branding, it was definitely one of the influencing factors that made me purchase from them as there are tons of traditional green tea brands out there, but Teapigs seems like the only fun and quirky one! The tea 'temples' are also such a high quality in an organza-esque bag and 'hand-rolled tea tips'.

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

...means Russia in Russian! I have started Russian lessons and it is so much fun!! I've always wanted to learn it, as well as Mandarin, Spanish, Swedish, Italian and probably a few more ...but it is truly expensive to learn a language unless you purchase self-learning packages but I know that I can not be taught a language this way, I need a traditional classroom environment which luckily, my full-time occupation has made available for employees at a discounted price.

Admittedly, the first reason for wanting to learn Russian is because I have always had a fondness for the Russian Mafia in films. They always make the best villains and I find them most memorable and effective! To name a few - Eastern Promises (highly recommend!), Nikita (TV Series), Bad Boys, James Bond and Batman. It would just be incredible to understand them and would make my viewing experience much more enjoyable! Besides that, the language itself is of course beautiful and I wanted to learn something that was completely alien to me...i.e. not French or German. The alphabet is a little tricky and some words are so hard to pronounce/remember but I am so eager to learn!! I will give an update on how I am doing at a later date!!

Saturday, 3 November 2012

The Distant Worlds 25th Anniversary event, as expected, was great! The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra were amazing and like the last time I came to Distant Worlds concert, wished I had stuck with playing the cello as a child! I also see this as a great way to get a child interested in learning an instrument, associate it with something they like!! Admittedly, I preferred the songs played the last time I came, as did my boyfriend, but it was still a lovely evening and I had also brought my little sister along who really enjoyed it!

Susan Calloway blew me away, she has one of the best voices I've ever heard in my life! One true highlight of the evening though was when they played One-Winged Angel which is one of the most popular Final Fantasy songs, but this time they wanted the audience to sing-a-long! This was hilarious and a complete fail - not the Orchestra/Choir, but the audience! The song is too difficult and it doesn't help with it being in Latin!...but I was in tears throughout the whole song because there was a guy sat behind me who was truly doing his best to sing the song (which I have to say is all sung with a very high note) and I could hear the pain he was causing his throat! I'm sure he knew I was laughing at him (but everyone is so nice!) and sitting next to my sister who could also hear him did not help the matter! We were still giggling two songs after it!

The Distant Worlds concerts are always such a delight to attend and hopefully in the future I will attend the ones that aren't just in London!!!

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Welcome to my blog! I am a full-time Designer in London for a fashion brand... but also have a whole load of other interests including making anything and everything - click on the huge SHOP sign above to check it all out.Also, feel free to use the tags below to navigate my blog posts!